From last (to perform) to first (in results). That was the trajectary for Alana Johnson.
The Washington-Liberty Generals gymnast won the final event with a 9.6 mark on the vault to catapult the senior to the individual 6D North Region girls all-around championship with a 36.85 score. That performance helped Washington-Liberty finish a close second in the region team scoring with a 141.625 total. The McLean Highlanders won the high-school events with 141.8.
In addition to winning the vault, Johnson was third on the uneven bars (9.25), eighth on the balance beam (8.975) and tied for 12th on the floor exercise (9.025).
“I was not expecting to win the all-around after I had a fall on my floor routine. At that point I was just hoping to place. But I finished strong on the vault,” Johnson said. “This is a nice way to finish my last high-school home meet.”
Johnson has been a gymnast, she thinks, since about age 2, but is not planning to compete in college.
By winning the region vault and all-around, Johnson’s final high-school meet will be the Virginia High School League’s Class 6 state meet. The top four individuals in each region event qualified for the state meet.
“Alana had a very good meet. Her leadup speed on the vault means everything on that event,” Washington-Liberty coach Joe D’Emidio said.
A second-place finish means Washington-Liberty will not advance to the state. Only the region champion earns that berth.
“Gymnastics is a team sport. McLean had the depth and we had four falls on the beam, and that did it for us right there,” D’Emidio said. “We still had a strong meet and Alana gets to go to the state and have fun there.”
Washington-Liberty’s Mara Gerardi finished ninth in the all-around (35.575) and Noki Din 10th (35.525). Din was second on the vault (9.5), second on the bars (9.4), tied for 10th on the floor (9.05) and 20th on the beam (7.575). Gerardi was eighth on the vault (9.3), tied for eighth on the bars (8.625), tied for 12th on the floor (9.025) and tied for 15th on the beam (8.625).
No other W-L gymnast finished in the top 20.
The Generals also finished second to McLean a week earlier in the Liberty District meet. In that competition, both squads had significantly higher team scores.
“It’s the region meet and the judging gets tougher,” D’Emidio said.
Wakefield High School gymnast Maddie Wearing had a strong region meet by finishing fourth in the all-around (36.0). She tied for first on the beam (9.55), was fourth on the vault (9.4), sixth on the floor (9.2) and 20th on the bars (7.85).
Yorktown High School’s Olivia Juergens was third on the floor (9.275). Also for Yorktown, Anya Clemmer was 12th on the beam (8.75) and tied for 12th on the vault (9.1) and Cady Anderson Garbow was 10th on the bars (8.60).
Yorktown finished sixth (134.9) in the team competition.
Also for Wakefield, Sofia Vazquez tied for seventh on the floor (9.125).
